


Red Museum

by 30xf



Series: 201 Days Of X Files [34]
Category: The X-Files
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 14:49:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5131595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/30xf/pseuds/30xf





	Red Museum

"Do you have the autopsy report on Rick Mazeroski there?" Mulder asked around a mouthful of pizza.

Scully nodded, wiping her hands on her napkin before handing it over. The phone rang and she hoisted herself up off of the floor, using the coffee table and the couch for leverage. "Excuse me," she said as she passed Mulder's long legs hanging off the couch. He nodded and did his best to pull his knees in. She picked up the portable phone and pressed the 'talk' button. "Scully," she announced without thinking. "I mean...hello?" Her face reddened as she frowned at Mulder, who almost choked on his pizza while keeping himself from laughing.

"Been working too much lately?" Melissa Scully's voice chuckled on the other end of the line.

"Apparently," Scully agreed on a sigh. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said. "How are you?"

Scully turned away from Mulder. She had been getting these calls from her sister since her abduction. Wellness check-ups and perhaps just taking attendance--making sure she was still there. "I'm fine. Just got back from a case."

"Oh? Where was that?"

"Wisconsin," she said, leaning against the kitchen counter. While Mulder was not overtly listening to her conversation, she was certain he was hearing the whole thing. Like him, she was always aware of what was going on around her.

"Anything interesting?" Melissa had always been good at feigning interest in Scully's job. Unfortunately, Scully couldn't remember the last time Melissa had a steady job to feign interest in.

Scully closed her eyes, and images flashed before her of teenagers with words written on their backs, dead teenagers, teenagers lying naked in the grass, and the face of the man who killed Deep Throat. "Nope, nothing too interesting." It was easy enough to dismiss over the phone. But she noticed it was taking longer and longer for these cases to leave her thoughts.

"Hey, I keep forgetting to ask you about James," Melissa said, instantly losing interest in her sister's work.

Upon hearing the name, Scully pushed herself off of the counter and hurried into her bedroom, unbeknownst to Mulder, who sat with his back to the apartment eating pizza and working on Scully's laptop. "What about him?" she asked quietly and slightly out of breath.

Melissa of course noticed the change in her tone. "Is he there?" she asked excitedly.

"No, he's not," Scully responded, her voice still quiet, but doing a better job at controlling it.

Scully could practically see her sister's furrowed brow and mischievous grin. "You got another guy there?"

"Look Missy, I can't really talk right now," she sighed, looking out her bedroom window at nothing in particular.

"You DO have another guy there!" Melissa practically shrieked into the phone.

Scully held the phone away from her ear for a moment and frowned. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes as she answered, "No, not like that. And thanks for thinking so highly of me."

"I was just teasing you, Dana. I'm sure it's just Mulder there."

The 'just Mulder' irritated Scully more than it should, but she was glad her sister had stopped teasing her with accusations of having feelings for him. "Yes, it's JUST Mulder here. We're working on case notes."

"He doesn't know about James?"

"No. And there's nothing to know anyways."

Melissa gasped, "You guys broke up?"

"We did, yes. We broke up before my...before I was gone."

"Wait, shit--mom called him to tell him you were gone."

"I know she did. She told me, and he came to see me in the hospital. Everything's fine with us. We're broken up, but we're still friends."

"Does mom know?"

"Yeah, I told her when she told me she had called him."

"Oh nice," Melissa scoffed. "It's just the big sister who gets told last?"

"Well, to be fair, I don't think Bill even knew we were dating in the first place," Scully smiled.

"That's alright then, I guess."

"Okay, I really do have work to do. But I'm calling you later. Mom said something about some mystery guy that keeps calling her house looking for you."

"Talk to you later, D," Melissa giggled into the phone before hanging up. 

Scully smiled to herself before hanging up and throwing the phone on her bed. She returned to the living room and took up her spot on the floor beside Mulder's legs. "Everything alright?" he asked as she took another piece of pizza from the box.

"Yep, just sister stuff," she sighed, taking a bite. After a moment of chewing, she handed the piece to Mulder. "Shit, I got your half." Their pizza order was always the same: pepperoni, mushrooms and green peppers on the whole thing; onions on his half, and green olives on hers.

"S'okay," he answered, already shoving the piece in his mouth. 

She briefly flashed back to them sitting in the restaurant and having him reach across the table and wipe sauce off her face. Of all the relationships she had ever had, for whatever reason, these times spent eating with Mulder lately had somehow become more intimate than any date she had been on. Not because of physical intimacy, obviously. Not even domestic intimacy. She guessed it was more to do with just being comfortable with each other. And a sense of normalcy. Since her abduction, any normalcy at all was more than welcome. Scully sighed to herself, willing her emotions not to overreact. She nudged Mulder's leg with her shoulder, "You finish that report yet?"


End file.
